![]() ![]() Frank Baum, first-lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her husband, as well as ardent detractors such as Harry Houdini. The spiritualist movement was further bolstered by high-profile supporters like author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author L. ![]() In their wake, the spiritualist movement grew to become one of the most popular religious groups of its era. They represented an exciting and bold new future where women were at the center of a spiritual movement, and in positions of authority as mediums channeled spirits which often promoted suffragist and abolitionist causes. This was the beginning of the archetypical “one knock for yes, two knocks for no” style of spirit communication, and within a few months of going public with their unique abilities, the Fox sisters were performing sold out theatre shows on both sides of the Atlantic. In answer to the sisters’ questions, spirits would respond by making bangs, knocks, and raps sound out. In the year 1848, Kate and Maggie Fox, sisters from rural New York, set the world alight with their unique form of spirit communication. The term, a French word, literally translates to “a meeting” or “a session”, and this is an apt description! We meet with each other, and hopefully meet with spirits to find answers to questions or rebuild our tenuous connections to the realm beyond this one. In short, a séance is any ritualized meeting with the intent to reach beyond this plane and contact the spirits of the departed. ![]() Often, when I tell someone that Kat and I are leading séance practitioners, or that we host séance s for the public, I am met with many questions asking just what the séance is and how they work. ![]() The term séance is shrouded in mystery, intrigue, and maybe even feeling of fear depending on your background and reference materials. The medium was none other than my wife Kat, the séance one of the first we attended as consultants on the power of the séance in paranormal investigations. There was a real sense of connection with something larger than this world on that night. The candles burned more brightly, and the room felt warmer almost instantly. Slowly the stream of voices coming from the medium receded, and her face became hers once more. As she spoke, it seemed as if her face shifted in the light, from that of a young woman, to that of a grandmotherly figure, to that of a small boy, to that of a bespectacled man. The evening reached its crescendo as our medium sat in trance, her face illuminated by a single candle, and she began to receive names, answers to questions, and stories from what seemed to be another place and time. However, soon the building creaked with the sounds of soft footsteps, the air grew chill, and the Ouija board began to bring messages for the guests. At first the contact was slow, only the swaying of pendulums inside their sealed bottles illuminated by flickering candlelight betrayed any hint of spirit presence. The research team worked with a medium to call forward the spirits of a location through using tools such as the Ouija board, pendulum bottles, and finally utilizing deep trance. I once conducted a séance with a small group of paranormal researchers working in a particularly haunted hotel in Maryland. ![]()
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